1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile ticketing, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus to implement a valid mobile ticket transfer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile ticketing refers to the process of when a customer uses a mobile phone or other mobile devices to book, pay, obtain and check a ticket. It represents an ever-increasing emerging market. Mobile tickets include transportation mobile tickets, sports mobile tickets, entertainment and events mobile tickets and the like. Compared with traditional tickets that are printed on paper, electronic mobile tickets have the advantages of saving ticket printing and mailing costs, improving a customer's convenience, and reducing infrastructure costs.
The delivery of tickets to mobile devices is typically made by text messaging or by picture messaging. In text messaging, as an example, a text message that includes the ticket number can be delivered to a mobile device in the manner of SMS or WAP Push. Ticket checking is performed by a manual visual checking or optical character recognition (OCR).
In picture messaging, as an example, a message that includes a two-dimensional barcode image can be transmitted to a mobile device in the manner of SMS or MMS. In such a manner, the image in the message is scanned by a laser scanner or a camera-based imager and is decoded into a ticket ID.
The file or image message transmitted in the above manners can be received and processed either by a general-purpose mobile application system (e.g., an existing text or image message receiving client), or by a dedicated mobile application system.
In the existing mobile ticketing systems, checking mobile tickets mainly depends on an OCR or other image photographic devices. Therefore, the SMS/MMS message per se is the unique evidence that proves ticket ownership. Since the SMS/MMS message can be forwarded to others, if the ticket holder forwards the related SMS/MMS message to many other people, then it is difficult to determine which receiver should be regarded as the valid holder.
A current solution is to embed the buyer's identity information into the ticket. However, when the scanner identifies the ticket information during the ticket checking process, it shows the buyer's identity information, and the buyer is required to show his/her identity card to prove that he/she is the legitimate holder of the ticket. Such a solution will not only bring inconvenience to the checking and use of the ticket, making the ticket checking process slower, but also is inconvenient for a valid transfer of the ticket.